As a holiday project, I used Dominus's guide as the basis for a Windows-based system that lets you install Windows 3.1x in DOSBox in less than one minute (in some cases, in less than ten seconds). You will need your own copy of the Windows 3.1x installation files (either as separate files, or on floppies or disk images, or on a CD-ROM or ISO image). This system does NOT supply a copy of Windows 3.1x or any other non-free software!

If you have the Windows 3.1x installation files (in any roman-alphabet version), this system automatically performs all the steps in Dominus's excellent guide, down to the Troubleshooting section.

This system has these advantages: you can drop a game on its icon, and it will (in many cases) automatically run Windows 3.1x. You can do the same thing with document and other files; drop them on the icon, and the files will open in Windows 3.1x in the default application for it. You can also print to the default printer (or any other printer) in the Windows host, and you can exchange text to and from the host Windows clipboard. A few other features are described on the page linked above.

Briefly, you download the system as described on the page linked above. As that page explains, you open the SETUP folder in the extracted folders and copy into it either an ISO image of the Windows for Workgroup 3.11 CD installer, or a set of Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 installation disk IMG files, or the full contents of the CD or the image files. You then run the InstallWin31DOSBox.exe program and it installs Windows 3.11 for you. If you copied the installation files into the SETUP folder (not the ISO or IMG files), and you have Windows 3.11 (not Windows for Workgroups), then the installation takes about ten seconds on modern Windows. Windows for Workgroups will take longer, because the setup program wastes time looking for a network adapter, but it eventually installs, typically in less than one minute.

The installer automatically sets up the drivers for the S3 display adapter, SoundBlaster, and a joystick. It creates a Program Manager group with installers for Video for Windows and QuickTime. It does not include a few other additional features (WinG, Win32s) described in Dominus's guide, but they should be easy to add. I've included a few in the Drivers folder, as suggested by Dominus's guide.

Again, this system includes only freely distributable software, and the only Microsoft products included are the freely downloadable WinVideo, Win32s, and WinG installers.The other programs it includes are the free PC Magazine HK utility, and one or two other free utilities, plus the open-source GhostScript and GhostScript-related software (running in the background for printing, etc.), and the free PDF-Xchange Viewer (https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer) which the vendor says "may be used without limitation for Private, Commercial, Government and all uses, provided it is not incorporated or distributed for profit/commercial gain with other software or media distribution of any type" (this system is not distributed for profit or commercial gain.)

A UTIL folder contains an extensive collection of PC Magazine Windows 3.1x utilities, plus a very few other third-party utilities.

If you don't need or like this system, you don't have to use it. It is entirely self-contained. If you delete the Win31DOSBox folder, no trace of the system remains on your disk. Of course I'll be glad to have suggestions for improvements.

Last edited by emendelson on 2018-1-28 @ 19:10, edited 10 times in total.

Here is an experimental new version that should work with any roman-alphabet version of Windows 3.11:

EDIT: Link removed - current version in a later post.

A lot of kludges are going on the background, and I can't guarantee that everything works, but I've tested it at various points in development with French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Danish versions, and it seems OK. Please let me know of any problems.

EDIT: Removed obsolete details.

Last edited by emendelson on 2018-1-22 @ 13:27, edited 2 times in total.

You'll need the Windows 3.11 installation files in any roman-alphabet language. Copy them (or an ISO or xx_wfw311.exe or a set of IMG files) into the Win311DOSBox\Setup folder, and run InstallWin31DOSBox.exe.

That's all there is to it.

If you want to open a file with a registered filetype in Windows 3.11 (as .WRI files are registered to open with Write.exe, etc.), just drop the file on Win31DOSBox.exe. The containing folder in the host system will be mounted as drive Y: in DOSBox.

You can create a desktop shortcut on the Windows host that runs a game or an application or game like WRITE.EXE. Simply create a shortcut to Win31DOSBox.exe, and add a command-line parameter to the Target field.

EDIT: Obsolete information removed.

Last edited by emendelson on 2018-1-22 @ 13:28, edited 2 times in total.

Many improvements. If you have Windows for Workgroups (any roman-alphabet language) or the English version of Windows 3.11, it automatically installs the Y2K version of the File Manager. Lots of other minor fixes. The UTIL folder in the WINDRIVE folder has quite a few useful PC Magazine Win 3.x utilities, plus a few others.

I think I'm going to suspend work on this for a while until I find a copy of WINCMD 1.4 (and maybe the other-language versions of the non-Workgroup Y2K updates for File Manager).

Last edited by emendelson on 2018-1-12 @ 18:15, edited 1 time in total.

And I've now updated it to use a custom build of DOSBox that won't close when you cick the close button at the upper right corner, which is easy to do by mistake when running Windows 3.1. I followed the method provided by Qbix here:

Apologies to anyone who wasted time downloading this earlier. The current version works correctly, I think:

EDIT: New link in a later message.

Features: Installs Windows 3.1x in seconds from installation files in its SETUP folder.

Prints to the default host printer; use Ctrl-Alt-F4 to paste text from the host clipboard. Press Ctrl-Shift-Alt-C to copy text already in the Win311 clipboard to the host clipboard. Drop a file on the Win31DOSBox.exe desktop shortcut and it will open in its default Windows 3.1 app (the file may need to be in a root or at least high-level directory, or else this may not work - I'll try to fix this). The close button at the upper right of the DOSBox window won't shut down Windows 3.11.

EDIT: New link, many minor improvements to printing, etc.

Last edited by emendelson on 2018-1-20 @ 18:38, edited 1 time in total.

International installation now seems to work correctly (I've tested with French and Finnish WfW311).

Three printers are listed in the Win311 Print menus:

Win10 PrinterWin10 ClipboardPDF to Win10

(The names will be slightly different on Windows 7, etc., systems.)

Win10 Printer prints to the default host printer. If you use the Win311 Control Panel and change the printer's "connect" option, you can select the output to go to an item already listed with SELECT in its name; when you then print, a dialog will pop up in the host asking you select a printer from Windows host printers.

Win10 Clipboard "prints" to the host clipboard. It's mostly used for "printing" text in the Win311 clipboard to the host clipboard, by typing Ctrl-Shift-Alt-C in Win311.

PDF to Win10 "prints" a PDF file from Win311 to your host Windows desktop. If the document that you're printing is untitled, then the PDF will have an arbitrary name based on the current date and time.

Drop a file on the Win31DOSBox icon to open it in the default Win311 app (for example, open a .WRI file in Win311 Write.exe).

I'll document other features later, for example, one that sets a specific application as the shell for one session only.

Meanwhile, if anyone can let me know of any free, legal Win311 games that I could try with this, I'll be grateful. I hope it might be possible just to drop a game .EXE on the Win311DOSBox app and run it.

Last edited by emendelson on 2018-1-20 @ 23:13, edited 2 times in total.

I've been updating and improving this system, and I think it works well now. I did this:

I installed Win311, using the system described in this thread, and created a desktop shortcut for the Win31DOSBox.exe app that launches the system. I downloaded the Mah Jongg for Windows that you linked to. I dropped MJWIN.EXE on my Win31DOSBox shortcut. A couple of seconds later, Windows 3.11 opened it, and the game started automatically. When I exited the game, Windows 3.11 also shut down - exactly as I hoped.

Technical details: when you drop an .EXE file on that shortcut, the containing folder of the exe file is mapped to drive Y: in my Win31DOSBox system, so it can find all its files. (At some point in the future, I'll add a feature that lets you drop a folder on to the shortcut and the folder will open in the File Manager in Win311 as drive Y:. But that's for the future. Meanwhile, you can just drop an exe file on the system and make it work as described.)

Briefly: you download and extract the archive. Copy the Win31 installation files (from floppies, drive images, or that legal "archival backup" that the license authorized to make way back when) into the SETUP folder and run InstallWin31DOSBox.exe. You can use any roman-alphabet version of Win 3.1x.

Installation takes less than a minute, and installs S3 video drivers, SB16 sound drivers, and a joystick driver. When it's done, the installer offers to run Win311, or you can run it from the Win31DOSBox.exe icon (or a shortcut). Win311 starts up at 1024x768 resolution, but you can change resolution and color depth from Windows 3.1x control panel. A Video program group includes installers for WinVideo and QuickTime.

Win311 mounts on drive C: in DOSBox, which is the C-DRIVE folder inside this system. Your other host drives are mounted by default (unless they have modern Windows systems on them). But you can modify this behavior by editing the DOSBox\Win31DOSBox.ini file.

For at least some games, you can play the game by dropping its icon on to the Win31DOSBox.exe icon. Win31 will start up; the game should start up; and the game and its files will be mapped to drive Y: in DOSBox. You can also drop a file from the host on to the Win31DOSBox icon and that file will open in the default Win311 application for that filetype in DOSBox.

If you have disk images of games, etc., you can drop one or more on to the Extract to A-Drive Folder.exe program. The files in the disk images will be extracted to the A-DRIVE folder, which you can access as Drive A: in DOSBox. The program will offer to delete any existing files in the A-DRIVE folder. If you have a physical floppy drive, it will automatically be mapped to drive B: in DOSBox.

You can send the text in the host clipboard to the Win311 clipboard by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Alt-V in DOSBox. You may be able to paste the contents of the host clipboard directly into whatever game or app is running in Win311 by pressing the Pause key. (Ctrl-Alt-F4 will paste only ASCII text.)

You can send the contents of the Win311 clipboard to the host clipboard by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Alt-C.

The installer creates a Win311DOSBox program group. You can use programs in that group to copy a file from the Win311 system to the host desktop, or to open a file from Win311 in the default application on the host.

Printing from Win311 is also supported; details are on the linked web page.

All the settings on this system are the defaults, with these exceptions: I've added the printer drivers and the utilities for clipboard exchange and for copying or opening files on the host. A UTIL folder in the C-DRIVE folder has a batch of old PCMag utilities available for use; one of them, HK.exe, is in the Startup group, so that hotkeys are available for exchanging clipboard data with the host.

I hope someone finds this useful. And of course I couldn't have begun with the help of Dominus's excellent setup guide for Windows 3.1 and generous help over the years from ripsaw8080, Qbix, and many others.

It's probably the same old zip of zips dumped from the same softkey-made shovelware discs presented as a "personal collection". There are a few of those...

Voodoo2s aren't 100mhz stockGeforce256 isn't released as a beta on New Years '99 under the Quadro brand386DX vs SX isn't about a missing FPUDOS gaming isn't a bilinear 320x200 16:10DOS PCs aren't better than the MacintoshOld PCs aren't 'aesthetic'